The pet industry and the pet owners have gradually begun to realize the benefits of an automated feeding device. Pets have in general similar problems that humans face such as obesity, diabetes, stomach problems etc. The automated feeding machines can provide for the care of such pets. There are several automated pet feeders in the market that feed kibbles and several that are capable of feeding canned food. Feeding kibbles does not have issues of food spoilage, whereas feeding canned food does. Canned food cannot be left in a device for prolonged periods as they will spoil.
Pets also tend to be restless when the owners are not at home. They become hyperactive when the owners return. This issue of boredom is addressed in US Published Appln. No. 2006/0219187, titled “Automatic Pet Trainer,” which requires a device to feed the pet to reinforce behavior of playing when the owner is not at home. The device in this published application will satisfy the needs of this pet trainer machine. Sometimes it is necessary for the pet owner or pet behavior researcher to reinforce pet behavior by providing food for certain things that they may want the pet to do. Examples of this maybe, making sure that outdoor cats come back home at a certain time and this can be rewarded by setting off a door switch which in turn can trigger the feeder to release food for reinforcement.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,349,671 describes a pet feeding system and method which uses the same device catering to the needs of a multi-pet household. This machine is designed to deal with more than one pet in a household that have different diets for different pets. This device helps feed two pets at a pre-determined time in the absence of the owner. This device comprises of a dish with four compartments which opens to feed the pet at a given time, and this is accomplished by a control unit that recognizes the pet that has to be fed. This is done through a sensor placed on the pet collar.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,103 describes a rotary pet feeder with a rotating cover on four pie shaped bowls. This feeder is designed to operate at fixed cycles and does not give the owner flexibility to provide for food or medication at specific times of the day or for multiple days. The machine does not provide for the ease of battery replacement, nor does it prevent the pets from accessing other compartments of the feeder when they are closed. It has been well known that pets can smell the presence of food and will attempt, any way possible, to gain access to the food even to the extent of destroying the machines that feed them. This is a major disadvantage in a real time environment where pets are creative and smart enough to figure out how to open the cover and eat all they want. This would not serve the function that the machine is designed and that is to feed the pets in a controlled fashion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,461 discloses another form of rotary feeder specifically designed to feed pets when they want to be fed. The device is a torsion spring activated device, wherein the pet owner winds a spring and places pet food in a rotary tray. As and when the pet requires food, they have to activate a paw switch to gain access to the different food compartments. This invention is titled “Animal Activated Feeder,” and that is what it is designed to do. In today's environment of obesity and diabetic problems in pets, like their human counterparts, this machine will not serve the pet industry in maintaining the health of the pet.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,150,664 and D 335,370 describe a machine that is a rotary feeder designed to feed controlled amounts of food at different points in time for the pet to feed. This device is a mechanical device with an electric motor wherein the control mechanics takes place through the activation of a multitude of gears and cams. The complexity of parts and assembly of these mechanical components tends to increase cost and creates assembly problems. The greater the number of parts the greater the probability of the machine having reliability issues. Secondly, the timer is housed outside the device, which prevents pets from accessing the food conveniently from the outside of the feeder and also prevents the feeder from having a maximal number of food compartments. As the timer mechanics require space on the outside of the feeder, increasing the number of food compartments (from 5 to 6, 7 or 8) would cause one of the pie shaped food compartments to fall within the area where the timer is, and thus prevent the pet from completely accessing the food compartment directly behind the timer. Also, as the timer is on the outside of the feed device, the likelihood increases that the pets will try to chew the timer cover and the components below attempting to get to the food. Another disadvantage is that as the cover index mechanics are operated by a cam type device, the cover is more likely to move fast and make quite a bit of noise. This may hurt the pet if the pet has its face within the pie shaped food container at the very moment the device decides to open another food compartment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,560 describes a rotary feeder that can feed food and water to the pet. The unit does not provide for a flexible feeding schedule. It provides for feed cycles at fixed intervals. The food tray is indexed against a fixed opening which requires a high torque motor to carry the weight of the food and water at every index. As the device is circular and all the food/water is stored in the different pie shaped compartments, weight imbalance occurs whenever a section of the pie is empty. Density of the food and density of water could also cause imbalance in the system. This will cause the motor and bearings to take uneven loading whenever a section of the pie compartment is empty. The device is designed to operate on AC household current, which is not safe in an environment where water is present. This increases the likelihood of shocking or even electrocuting the pet in the event the pet drools on in this area and/or if the water gets to the live components.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,671,210 describes an animal feeder with the purpose of feeding pets at periodic intervals. This design is similar to that of U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,560, wherein the food compartments are indexed. This has the same design problems faced in U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,560, such as need for greater power, weight imbalance and safety of the pet. However, this machine has load bearing problems only on the center hub where the feeder bowl rotates and there is no load issue at the motor end.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,229 is also a rotary style automatic feeder with the food compartments indexed to accomplish the task of feeding the pet. This machine is set to operate or index at preset cyclic hourly intervals and has the same design concern of prior two patents discussed above. The indexing of the bowl in this machine is however actuated by a solenoid and hence the bowl would move in a fast quick movement, from one position to another during index. The speed at which this index happens could be a safety hazard to the pet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,059 is a rotary feeder similar to the others described above with the exception that the bowl where the food is contained is spring loaded at the beginning of the feed cycle. The bowl is filled with food and placed in the machine and then rotated to load the torsion spring (stored energy). The solenoid plunger is activated at preset cyclic hourly intervals to release the torsion energy built into the bowl axis, thereby enabling the bowl to rotate and index to the next position. This has similar issues as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,501,229 and 4,671,210 and 4,805,560.
Although the concept of automated feeding pets is addressed by these devices, these devices do not overcome the problems that are related to feeding and/or medicating at specific times, possible damage caused by pets to gain access to food compartments and the requirements of power consumption. Ease of use by the consumer/pet owner and portability has not been addressed. None of the above devices allow for use by integrating with other devices to train or reinforce pet behavior.